WASHINGTON - The Senate Judiciary committee will hold hearings Tuesday on the Target data breach and its potential impact on customers.

Officials say the main objective of the hearing is to examine how consumers were affected by the data breach and what they can do to protect themselves against such data intrusions.

"By examining these recent breaches and their consequences on consumers, we hope to gain a better understanding of the nature of these crimes and what steps can be taken to further protect information and limit cyber threats," said Rep. Lee Terry, who chairs the commerce, manufacturing and trade subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Target has said the breach of its networks during the busy holiday shopping period resulted in the theft of about 40 million credit and debit card records and 70 million other records with customer information such as addresses and telephone numbers.

Both Minnesota Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken sit on the judiciary committee and will have their chance to question Target's CFO.